A 'recluse' mum and wheelchair user who lost her long-standing fight to get a ramp installed at her home, is marking a 10-year anniversary of being "trapped" indoors. Dawn Steel is a mum-of-two and cancer survivor who had to resort to launching a legal bid to facilitate easier access to her flat.
Dawn moved into her home in 2013 and following a knee replacement operation, has been a wheelchair user since. This means she has not left the house independently for nearly a decade.
The disagreement between Dawn and the company that oversees management of the flat in Shirley, has led to Dawn claiming that red tape had 'stripped her of independence'. Freeholder Pennycuick Collins was blamed for holding up the process, reports BirminghamLive.
Pennycuick Collins whose website says they are a 'leading Birmingham-based independent property consultancy who have operated for over 40 years', is now no longer involved with the building where Shirley's flat is built. It appears money may not have caused the hold-up in installing the ramp.
Council funding was secured for the ramp, meaning the works would not have cost the company a penny. But we reported bosses had still refused to sign off on the work that would have stopped Dawn from being stuck inside 24/7.
One year on, Dawn's legal bid has failed. Despite a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for a solicitor, the process stalled and never got off the ground.
Shirley councillor and Green party leader Max McLoughlin has been involved in efforts to resolve the issue and assisted Dawn with the crowdfunding page. At the time, he said he had never worked on a case like it and "genuinely" didn't understand what the hold-up was.
Now, he has issued an update on Dawn's behalf. He said the management company Pennycuick Collins had been replaced by Cannon Jones Estate Management Limited.
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According to Companies House, both of its directors are previous employees of Pennycuick Collins. Cllr McLoughlin - who spoke on behalf of Dawn as she was recently hospitalised following a fall at home - said there had been no progress and the council grant had expired.
He said it was "demoralising" to see Dawn treated the way she has been, claiming it had taken "over three years to get nowhere". Speaking about the long-drawn out process, Cllr McLoughlin said: "The council, Dawn and myself did everything we could to get this ramp and it feels like we've been strung along.
"It shows why people living with disabilities need protection under the law. The fact is Dawn has been left unable to leave her flat on her own.
"That independence is important. Not just for health and wellbeing but for dignity."
Dawn previously told how she relied heavily on grocery deliveries and had to be picked up in an ambulance to attend routine hospital appointments. She spoke of feeling like a "recluse" and relying on her children for survival.
She said: "If there was a fire, I would have to fall out of my patio door. People used to moan about being stuck in with Covid for a month or two, but try and do it for nearly nine years without seeing anybody.
"What kind of a life is that? Why should I have to move?
"Why should I? I bought this flat when I could walk.
"Why should people try and get me out? I like it here and I couldn't afford anything else."
Pennycuick Collins was contacted for a response. Last time the company declined to comment and this time it did not respond at all.
Cannon Jones Estate Management Limited was also asked if it would like to respond.
